MyPE

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Huge revenue losses at out-of-action Kinkelbos weighbridge

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Dear MyPE

The province is losing huge amounts of revenue while the Kinkelbos weighbridge on the N2 outside Port Elizabeth is out of action. Unquantifiable damage is also being done to our roads by overloaded trucks taking advantage of the situation.

Kinkelbos is the only weighbridge where some measure of control has been enforced on road freight in the province.

A good roads infrastructure is the economic lifeblood of our province and we need to do everything we can to watch over our main routes.

According to a reply to a legislature question I asked the MEC for Transport, Weziwe Tikana, the weighbridge has not been operation since November last year to date, after the electricity was cut by Eskom due to non-payment by Department of Transport “when the money got finished [sic]”. The Sarah Baartman District Municipality could not pay the bill either, due to an error on the payment system.

While there had been no losses from accidents of heavy vehicles due to freight overloading during this period, the MEC stated that road damage could not be quantified and isolated.

We need every cent of our revenue and we cannot afford to lose the millions of rands generated from fines from overloaded vehicles that have contravened weight specifications.

The DA will be keeping a close watch on the MEC’s assurance that operations at Kinkelbos should resume by mid-February.

Regards

Marshall von Buchenroder

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Port Elizabethan

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